Social media killed the Rockstar

While Rock music is apparently being overtaken by Pop music today; Pop music has had a great help from an apparently most unrelated development.

Researchers have tried to find the link between a person’s psychology and the music he/she hears. A brief of the research, at the risk of generalization, is as below. The research is biased towards American music but can be suitably extrapolated to music across the world.

Genre	Personal Traits
Pop	·         Extraverted, honest and conventional ·         Hard-working and have high self-esteem ·         Less creative and more uneasy
Rap and Hip/Hop	·         High self-esteem, outgoing
Rock / Heavy Metal	·         Gentle, creative, introverted  ·         Low self-esteem
Country	·         Hardworking, conventional and outgoing ·         Emotionally stable
Indie	·         Less hard-working and less gentle ·         Passivity, anxiousness and low self-esteem
Dance	·         Outgoing and assertive
Classical	·         More Introverted ·         Creative and have a good sense of self-esteem.
Jazz, Blues and Soul	·         More extraverted with high self-esteem. ·         Very creative, intelligent and at ease.

However, the results seem to vary across generations. The homogeneity seems to disappear as once compares results across ages where one generation majorly preferring one kind of music over other. So it is surmised that your personality along with the social setup determines the music one hears. But what is this social setup?

Music is not really a passive activity but also an expression of oneself. Thus Rock music gives the introvert a chance to express himself through the songs he listens and sings along. He appreciates the creativity and the strong lyrics boost his self-esteem. Rock music is just what the person needs; it gives him what he lacks within himself and completes him.

So Rock music was something that a generation needed to express itself. Oddly enough, this need is also fulfilled by social media today where a person can log into the world and express himself to the fullest; be it Facebook, twitter or any of the other popular social media sites. One can log into a news site and give one’s frankest opinion. Pour out his creativity in a blog. Today even the most introvert of all can have a voice which cannot be coerced. On a further note, social media seems like a competition not only to Rock but also other genres of music.

So while the need remains the same, with more/ better options available, the want has shifted to a more direct mode of expression and thus the demand for social media seems to be only on the rise.